Sunday, 24 February 2013

TEHRAN IRAN said on Saturday it will not go beyond its obligations or accept anything outside its rights under the non-proliferation treaty (NPT), ahead of talks with major powers on its disputed nuclear drive.

“We will not accept anything beyond our obligations and will not accept anything less than our rights,” said the Islamic republic’s top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, quoted by ISNA news agency.

“Iran has fulfilled its NPT obligations as an active and committed member, therefore (it) should gain all of its rights,” Jalili said in an address to Iranian nuclear industry officials.

His remarks come ahead of a meeting between Iran and six world powers — Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany — in Kazakhstan on Tuesday.

The talks will be the first between the parties since three rounds of meetings in Moscow ended in stalemate last June.

The so-called P5+1 has called on Iran to scale back on uranium enrichment, the process that is used for power plant fuel and in higher purities needed for a nuclear weapon.

But they stopped short of offering Tehran substantial relief from UN Security Council and unilateral Western sanctions which have since last year caused major economic problems for the Gulf country.

Iran denies seeking atomic weapons but many in the international community suspect otherwise. “The Iranian nation will defend its rights including its nuclear rights ... Iranian people do not accept to be treated as an exception in the world,” said Jalili, who is also secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.

“They have announced that they have imposed crippling pressures on the Iranian nation to give up its rights ..but despite the sanctions they have only witnessed Iranian people ... defending their rights,” Jalili added.

“If the 5+1 wants to enter constructive talks, then they should enter it with a new strategy and proposals. We hope the 5+1 ... enter on a path that can win the Iranian people’s trust,” he said.

France on Thursday confirmed that world powers will make a “substantial” new offer to Iran at the talks next week in Kazakhstan. “We will make a new offer that will contain significant new elements.

We want a true exchange, leading to concrete results,” said the French foreign ministry’s deputy spokesman, Vincent Floreani, without elaborating.

According to media reports, the world powers could offer to ease sanctions on Iran’s trade in gold and other precious metals.

On Thursday, US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland urged Iran to consider “another path” than the nuclear bomb.

“They have an opportunity to come to those talks ready to be serious, ready to allay the international community’s concerns, and we hope they take that opportunity,” she said. Talks between Iran and the UN atomic watchdog agency have been stalled for around a decade, with Tehran refusing to answer a number of demands from the International Atomic Energy Agency, saying they go beyond its obligations.

Meanwhile,in a separate development, Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard has begun a three-day ground and air military exercise aimed at upgrading its combat readiness.

State TV says the drills involve ground forces of the Guard, Iran’s most powerful military force, around the city of Sirjan in the country’s south.

It showed tanks and artillery attacking hypothetical enemy positions.

The broadcast says the aim of the exercise is to upgrade the capabilities of the Iranian forces. The war games are taking place amid escalating tensions between Iran and the West over Tehran’s disputed nuclear programme. Israel has hinted that it may take military action if talks fail to get Iran stop its uranium enrichment programme.

SPAIN is no longer under imminent threat from financial markets, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy told lawmakers, but instead is on track to repair its public finances, as shown by an "unprecedented" decline in its budget deficit last year. In his annual state of the nation speech, Rajoy told Parliament that the budget deficit fell ...

ON July 26, 2011, Jack Lew, then the White House budget director, went to Harry Reid's office for a budget strategy session. According to Bob Woodward's book, The Price of Politics, Lew told the Senate majority leader that they had come up with a trigger idea .

IQ Board okays 10% hike for shareholders

INDUSTRIES Qatar confirmed that the QR550.0 million equity restructuring proposed by the Board of Directors in their meeting convened on February 21, will result in the company’s shareholders receiving an additional 10% of shares, i.e. 1 share for each 10 shares held, and total issued share capital increasing from 550 million shares to 605 million shares. The proposal is subject to approval by the general assembly.

DOHA WITH schools coming under the umbrella of the Supreme Education Council (SEC), set to reopen on Sunday after the spring break, more than 233,136 students will be making their way back to school for the second semester of the academic year 2012-2013.

In a release, the SEC has emphasised the need for students to be encouraged to go to school from the first day and follow school timetables strictly. Through text messages, the SEC will also urge parents to motivate their children to attend classes from Day 1 of school itself.

The SEC has called on schools to abide by laws and regulations in addition to organising classes in a manner that fosters education. It said that it is the responsibility of schools to provide the appropriate environment, including all supplies such as books for the second semester.

On the another hand, SEC issued instructions to all independent school owners to ease the burden on parents, students and teachers.

In this context, the Curriculum Standards office has set a number of procedures for the second semester of the academic year 2012-2013, to boost the academic performance of students.

These measures include plans for each subject, which describe the time and the way curriculum standards are applied to each class. These ‘time tables’ were prepared and distributed to schools before the end of the first semester so that teachers could have enough time to prepare daily portions and make arrangements for learning aids and activities.

These planned aids and activities would help students grasp the topic easily.

The SEC has also planned many activities to develop education in the country, among which is the organisation of workshops for teachers and course co-ordinators involved in learning resources, in order to train them to use active-learning sources.

A curriculum standards’ specialist will be in charge of organising meetings to discuss the use of learning aids at schools. This initiative aims at enabling teachers to enhance their performance.

The mid-year holiday was enjoyed by 177 independent and 122 private schools. The SEC noted that 14 schools teach the Qatari curriculum, while 181 follow the international curriculum. There are also 24 international community schools working under the supervision of their respective embassies, in addition to 64 private kindergartens.

DOHA PREPARATIONS for the 10th annual Doha Jewellery and Watches Exhibition (DJWE) have finished and the event opens on Monday at the Doha International Exhibitions Center, Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) revealed on Saturday.

The seven-day international exhibition is organised by QTA and will showcase the finest jewellery and watches collections. This year’s edition, which runs until March 3, features over 530 international and regional brands of fine jewellery and luxury watches including the world’s most glamorous and fashionable marques.

Many spectacular pieces will be exclusively revealed at the show.

In addition to an impressive list of regular exhibitors, the 10th edition of the annual exhibition is hosting for the first time many new participants representing some of the world’s leading names in the industry, such as Christie’s from London and Matis Jewellery, who are aiming to establish a foothold in the jewellery industry in Qatar.

The 2013 Doha Jewellery and Watches Exhibition will cover nearly 15,000 square meters of space. Over the past decade the expo has become a record-beating event and this year is no exception.

SPAIN is no longer under imminent threat from financial markets, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy told lawmakers, but instead is on track to repair its public finances, as shown by an "unprecedented" decline in its budget deficit last year. In his annual state of the nation speech, Rajoy told Parliament that the budget deficit fell ...

ON July 26, 2011, Jack Lew, then the White House budget director, went to Harry Reid's office for a budget strategy session. According to Bob Woodward's book, The Price of Politics, Lew told the Senate majority leader that they had come up with a trigger idea .